I have an X-Box 360 (yes I am aware of the hypocrisy of a Mac user buying a Microsoft product) I also have the HD-DVD player which came out a while back. I know that Blu-Ray won the HD war but on a 50in Plamsa, 1080p is 1080p.

Since HD-DVD is dead I can now buy 1080p movies dirt cheap. I just bought 300, Beowulf, Transformers, Casino TMNT (CGI movie from 2006) Tomb Raider and Batman Begins all for $12 each

I have....


















Nintendo (8 bit!)
Super Nintendo
Playstation (1!!)
Sega Saturn

Dont feel bad I still have my Sega Dreamcast

I still have my Atari 2600, purchased in 1984.

Still works, and I've never had much interest in video games beyond that. Picked up the first EVIL DEAD game for the PC and loved it, but quickly realized that I'd much rather be watching movies than spending days (or weeks) getting to the end of a game.

I always seemed to guess wrong on the game system front. The first one I actually bought was the Atari 7800 (it also played 2600 games) instead of the original Nintendo System. I then bought the Nintendo, Genesis, Super Nintendo and even the Sega CD system --- all at used prices. The next system I purchased new was the Sega Dreamcast --- IMO the greatest unit. However, it was released just before the miracle machine, PS2. Dreamcast (released 9-9-99 if memory serves) didn't have all the promise of PS2 ... but once released, neither did the PS2. Thus, Dreamcast never really caught gamers' fancy. Since, I have bought a PS2 (used), and that's it. Though a PS3 is soon to be bought, for the Blu-Ray if nothing else.

I always wanted the ColecoVision system!

I had a friend with the Atari 5200, which was a big leap forward graphics-wise from the 2600, and I used to love playing DIG DUG and POLE POSITION at his house. For some reason, despite the better graphics, I never wanted the Colecovision system because I didn't like the look of the stubby round joysticks. Go figure.

Ah ... the 5200.

My freshman year of college, my roommate bought this system (which didn't play 2600 games, and though the 7800 played 2600, it didn't play 5200). The nights of all-nighters that the 5200 experienced with us! Friends would come to our room for the infamous 'study break' and play a game, usually the plumbing-pipe based Mario Brothers. That game, along with the football game, generated a wall of scores --- literally, people would right their scores on the wall next to roommate's desk with a pencil.

A true blast from the past with the mention of that machine.

I still have a sheet of paper from a yellow legal pad tucked into my 2600 case, where my best friend and I would keep track of high scores for certain games, which dates back to about 1984.

When I recently moved and returned the Atari to a place of prominence in the living room, I played some of the old games and managed to beat a 20+ year-old high score of my friend's. I was THIS CLOSE to calling him up out of the blue and bragging about it.




Mark

I wasn't planning on responding to this thread--as I don't currently own any system--but figured I'd join in on the recollections of systems past...



It's intersting to think about the compatibility issues associated with the old systems (especially all the Atari ones). While the 5200 didn't play 2600 games, didn't they have an adapter you could buy? It would make sense to have SOME way of playing 2600 games for all the people who already owned tons of 2600 games that Atari wanted to upgrade to the 5200.

Up until the 5200 and Colecovision came out our only system was a 1970s Pong set (that at least had a few "different" games--like Hockey--that were actually just variations on the same old Pong game). When Colecovision and the Atari 5200 were coming out in the early 80s I remember doing a bunch of research (mainly watching the commercials and reading video game magazines) to try to figure out which one was better. For whatever reason I decided that Colecovision was the way to go. I hounded my parents for months leading up to Christmas, trying to convince them that Colecovision was the perfect Christmas present--not only for me but for the whole family (yeah I was pulling out all the stops). It was kind of like my own version of "A Christmas Story", except I was trying to get a video game system instead of a BB gun (which also would have been cool). Instead of "You'll shoot your eye out", I could very easily have had to deal with taunts of "You'll rot your brain out", or something to that effect.

Anyway, Christmas finally came after much anticipation and...we got the Colecovision! Definitely one of the best Christmas presents ever for me. It's true that the controllers were a bit odd--with the stubby joysticks and all--but you got used to it pretty quickly. We never owned a 2600, but we eventually got the Colecovision 2600 adapter--which increased the available game titles by an amazing number. I remember spending many hours playing Coleco's Donkey Kong (which came with the unit I believe). Zaxxon was also cool. I had a friend who had a 5200 and I still don't know which one was truly the best. They both had nice graphics that were a definite step up from the 2600 (and Intellivision--which a nephew owned). The 5200 probably had better controllers (but like I said, I got used to the Coleco ones and they didn't really bother me). I think either one would have been a perfect fit at the time.

Other than a couple of those cheap "retro" systems that recreate the Atari experience in a little unit that doesn't need cartridges to give you a whole slew of games, I really haven't bought any video game systems since (or even played much). I'll have to see if I can get the Colecovision system from my parents, bring it home and see if it still works! It's nothing like what's available these days, but the nostalgia factor would be pretty high!

I found it funny and interesting that when I hooked up the Atari after we moved last year (nor really having played the games in at least 15 years), I was approximately as good at them at that moment as I was when I was a kid, instantly remembering all of the moves and tricks needed to score the big points on each game. It was like zero time had passed between the heyday of the 2600 and now.

...Just like riding a bike